


gAIn

by green_piggy



Category: AI: The Somnium Files (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self Confidence Issues, contains spoilers for the entire game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21889207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_piggy/pseuds/green_piggy
Summary: Date gets a new bed for their home. Post Resolution Route.
Relationships: Date Kaname & Okiura Mizuki
Comments: 24
Kudos: 177





	gAIn

**Author's Note:**

> **THIS FIC CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME - PLEASE CLICK AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED THANK YOU**
> 
> okay now that's out of the way!!
> 
> i hadn't been planning on This for my 50th fic, but aitsf absolutely and utterly destroyed me in the best possible way. i binged it all in three days GOD what an incredible game. so so soooo good. made me cry harder than a baby surrounded by freshly cut onions
> 
> mizuki and date's dynamics in particular hit me HARD - found family is my huge weakness and they really ticked all the boxes for me aaaaa
> 
> enough rambling haha - hope y'all enjoy!!

Mizuki had been getting ready to visit Iris in the hospital when there was a knock on the door. Frowning, she dropped her bag and grabbed her iron pipe, inching towards the door. The  _ last  _ time it wasn't Date, it had been a bunch of assholes who shoved her into a speaker - a  _ speaker!  _ No way in hell was she letting herself be off-guard again.

“Who’s there!?” she called.

“Delivery!” came a young man’s voice. So, definitely not Date. “For a ‘Mister Kaname Date’?”

Curiosity overtook her. Mizuki creaked open the door, ever-so-slightly, to see a trio of exhausted looking delivery drivers. They  _ looked  _ harmless, and, even if they weren’t, a stiff breeze could have knocked them over.

Sighing, she pulled the door open. “Why are there so many of you?”

She glanced down to see a large box on the ground between them.

“Because this thing’s heavy as  _ shi—”  _ The smallest of them stopped himself with a strangled noise. “Uh,  _ really  _ heavy.”

“I know what swear words are,” Mizuki said flatly. “Anyway, gimme.”

“You’re  _ definitely  _ not Kaname Date, though. Or a man at all.”

“He got face reconstruction surgery. I _ am _ him.”

There was a beat of silence. Nobody laughed, or even snorted. People just  _ didn’t  _ get her sense of humour.

Date did. But he sucked.

“...We’re not falling for that one, kid.”

Mizuki scowled. “Fine. But I  _ do  _ live here. I can sign for it.”

They exchanged looks with one another. Then, the man who had knocked gave her a sweet smile, one that widened the dimples on his freckle-spotted face. “What’s your relationship with him?”

“He’s my…” Ah,  _ shit.  _ Mizuki never quite knew how to describe their relationship to others. “Cousin,” she finished lamely. “I live with him.”

“Seems a bit weird…” One of them muttered. Mizuki glared at him, internally smirking when he yelped and visibly paled.

The kind man smiled. “Sure. That’s not a problem.” He held out his device. “We just need you to sign here…”

Mizuki got on her tiptoes and signed for the parcel. The three men all squatted down, huffing and puffing as they struggled to lift the box. Mizuki watched them with a frown.

“Where—” The small man let out a terrible sigh— “should we leave - this?”

“Here, I’ll take it.”

They exchanged looks. Then, the kind man spoke: “With all due respect, madam… you’re a child. We’re adults, and  _ we  _ can barely lift this.”

Mizuki planted a hand on her hip. “Just gimme it, okay?”

Another set of looks. Then, the small man shrugged. Silently, they passed the box along to Mizuki, a cacophony of shuffling hands and grunts. Mizuki took the box from them, easily dangling it by the handle with a couple of fingers. She leaned on her iron pipe with her other hand.

All of their jaws dropped. She let herself be more than a little bit smug.

“Awesome. Thanks. Have a great day!”

“Y-y-you too!”

She kicked the door shut once they left. Sighing to herself, Mizuki tossed her pipe onto the bed and dropped the parcel on the ground at the bottom of her bed. It made a terrible noise, one so deafening that she was worried the floor itself might give way.

Mizuki stared at the cupboard box. On the side of it, in large, curly font amongst rows of Swedish words she had no hope of understanding, was the word  **‘BED’.**

“Huh.”

Sighing, she grabbed her backpack and went out to visit Iris. She was due to have surgery soon, and what kind of friend would Mizuki be if she didn’t sneak in some chocolate and offer moral support?

She returned in the late afternoon, just before the first hints of sunset, and had a quick shower before doing her exercises on the bench press.

As she finished up, the sun started to bleed over the horizon of skyscrapers and trees. Then—

Footsteps barged up the stairs, ones too chunky to be Date’s. Heart racing, Mizuki grabbed her metal pipe from atop her quilt and swallowed down her nerves. She crept forward, making sure to be silent, and pressed herself against the wall next to the door. As soon as it opened -  _ bam!  _ She’d get them!

The door creaked open. Yelling, Mizuki raised her pipe—

“Whoa whoa  _ whoa!”  _ cried a rough voice. “Holy  _ shit,  _ Mizuki!”

There was something familiar about the tone that made her pause.

...Oh.

Right.

_ This  _ was Date. What he was really like. She needed to get use to that.  _ And  _ his footsteps.

It was a mop of black hair that greeted her, not long, slight blond waves down his neck. The -  _ petrified,  _ she realised with more than a bit of pride - eyes that stared at her were a soft hazel, like the first falling leaves of autumn, not bright yellow and dark, muted green.

He was  _ waaaay  _ shorter, too, and wider - not to mention the intense lines under his eyes and the stubble sprouting along his chin like stubborn little hairs, like the type that you wasted hours and  _ hours  _ trying to pluck out, but all you did was make the skin red and raw and sore. Mizuki didn’t really take care of her appearance, not after having moved in with Date, but she used to spend many hours in front of a mirror, her mother - no, just Shoko - constantly pulling her skin instead of at teeny tiny hairs that  _ every  _ kid had on their face. And then she'd get cuts, and they'd scab, and they  _ hurt,  _ and Mizuki couldn't help crying, and - and Shoko, she'd—

Mizuki inhaled. Remembered her therapist's advice. She shoved a great big "STOP" sign in front of those thoughts, and found it a little easier to breathe.

When she opened her eyes, Date was looking at her, concern shining in those strange eyes.

"You… okay?" he asked quietly, voice awkward.

Yet, somehow…

She preferred this look. Sure, it would take a lot of time before it became familiar, but she was adaptable. She’d manage!

"Yeah. Course I am, dummy."

Her voice was thick. Date's gaze softened, but, thankfully, he played along.

“Great. Now can you  _ please  _ put down the pipe?” he squeaked. He even sounded rougher, way deeper than - well. Before.

"I don't wanna," she said, but lowered it anyway.

When she did, his voice became gentle. “I’m home.”

Mizuki pouted - or tried to - but she couldn’t stop her smile. “Welcome back.”

Date wiggled the couple of plastic bags in his hands. "I got some of your favourite pudding!" he sang.

"Ohhh, awesome! Thank you!"

They fell into their usual behaviour, throwing barbs at each other as they packed away the shopping. It was always comforting to Mizuki, how quickly and effortlessly they fell into trading half-hearted insults, how she could be  _ that _ at ease around someone to behave like that. Sometimes they went too far, and one of them would (eventually) apologise, but there was a deep relief in those words. How, underneath all of the ‘idiots’ and ‘babies’ and kicks and punches, there was that underlying _ ‘I love you so very much’. _

Rarely -  _ very  _ rarely - though, it was easy to forget that. You had to remember that, every now and again, you  _ did  _ need to speak aloud caring words. Just to clarify. Just to ensure that that love was still there, and that it would continue to remain.

When they were done, Date took out the puddings and dished them into bowls. Mizuki took her with a thanks, and smiled a little when she spotted that there was more pudding in her bowl compared to Date’s.

They sat down on their usual chairs. Mizuki curled her knees up to her chest, balancing her bowl on top as she began to eat.

"So," she asked in-between giant mouthfuls of her pudding, "why a new bed?"

“Huh?”

Rolling her eyes, Mizuki jabbed her spoon towards the box.

Date turned around. “Oh! That was fast - especially given it’s almost Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” Mizuki said flatly. “Treat yourself with a bed.”

Date shrugged. He was trying to look casual, but there was an immense awkwardness in his eyes. "Look at me! I'm  _ old!  _ You can't keep expectin' me to sleep on a sofa forever. And I got paid a pretty decent amount for that last case."

Mizuki swallowed the last of the pudding. "Huh."

"I mean…" Date trailed off. "If you don't  _ want  _ a new bed in here—"

"See,  _ this  _ is why I call you an idiot." Mizuki tossed her teaspoon at him, snorting when it  _ bonked  _ him right on the tip of his nose. She put her empty bowl on the table. "Why would I mind you having your own bed? And  _ you  _ pay the rent."

"I guess…"

"If anything…" Now it was  _ her  _ turn to be awkward. Mizuki glanced away, towards her own bed. "I'm sorry. For stealing your bed."

Date waved his hand. "Do I  _ look  _ like I mind?"

He didn't, not at all, but… there was always that lingering doubt in the back of her mind. Maybe that was something that would always remain a part of her; that eternal, crippling fear of angering the people she loved, of upsetting them even if she didn't understand how, or  _ why.  _ She didn't want to be alone. Not again. God,  _ please,  _ anything but loneliness. She couldn’t take it again.

Mizuki breathed in. She lightly smacked her fists against her thighs.

"No," she whispered, hating how hoarse her voice came out.

Date’s face softened. Mizuki was filled with the sudden, irrepressible urge to punch him. “‘Sides,  _ I  _ was the one who let you sleep on it. I don’t mind at all.”

“...Thanks.”

“We’ll put it up tomorrow.” That casual usage of ‘we’ made Mizuki’s chest soft and cosy. She glanced up to his crooked smile. “Tonight, though? I think we should play some stuff on the Swap.”

“‘Swap’ is a  _ terrible  _ name for a gaming console.” Mizuki grinned back at him. “But you  _ bet  _ I’m gonna kick your ass at Luigi Kart.”

He leaned across and lightly ruffled her hair, laughing. “I’d love to see you try, baby!”

_ “Hey!” _

* * *

Mizuki was off school because of mourning, and that wasn't  _ strictly  _ a lie. Yeah, she felt okay now, at home, curled up on her bed and bickering with Date, but she was dreading returning to school. People who kicked and punched her, or never even  _ looked _ at her before, would suddenly be awkward and sullen around her. They'd come up, all false smiles and fake concern, and oh, I'm  _ so  _ sorry for your loss -  _ both  _ of your parents, that's so terrible, I hope you're doing alright…

They didn't really care. They just wanted to look good, look like they actually were concerned for the strange little freak who didn't live with her parents.

And now she had neither of them.

_ “STOP”,  _ went that helpful little signpost.

...Anyway.

She was at home, and so was Date, because he was meant to be getting face reconstruction surgery after… well.  _ That. _ Naturally, if anyone saw him walking around with a perfectly fine looking face mere days after his surgery… there'd be some questions. He'd only gone out yesterday to get groceries, and had his hood pulled up tight the entire time.

And that was how they had gotten here.

“Are you  _ really  _ putting your bed next to mine?” Mizuki asked with a wrinkle of her nose.

“Well, where  _ else  _ am I gonna put it?” Date mumbled, voice muffled. He was deep in a box of Aykea furniture and cheap metal poles. One pole clattered against the floor as he yanked his head out of the box, looking even more lost than he had before diving in.

“I dunno,” Mizuki said, and walked over to stand in the emptiest corner of the room.  _ “Here,  _ maybe?”

“It’ll be fine.” He waved a hand at her from over his shoulder.

“You haven’t even rearranged the room!” Mizuki snapped. “Your stupid fancy-ass audio system is taking up most of the place! Have you paid that off yet?”

“Your child mind does  _ not  _ need to worry about that.”

“So you haven’t, huh.”

“I didn’t say  _ that.” _

“Don’t need to. It’s written all over your stupid face.”

He finally turned to look at her. “You couldn’t even  _ see  _ my face!”

Mizuki snorted. “Don’t need to see it to know it’s stupid.”

Date huffed.

"Help me move this stuff," he said. He flicked a thumb towards his speakers.

Mizuki rolled her eyes, but she rolled up her sleeves, cracked her knuckles, and got to work.

It took most of the evening, and a bunch of bitching, but they finally got the bed up and the room reorganised. The bench press was now next to the file cabinet, and the audio system sat where the rail of clothing had once hung. The rail itself (with all of Date's old clothing burnt, replaced with three sets of identical black suits and V-necked red shirts) now stood next to the bench press's new location, in-between that and the beds. The table, carpet, and sofas had all been pulled towards the windows to accommodate for the new bed.

It didn't leave a lot of room. Mizuki had to leave her school bag on top of the speakers. The gap between the clothing rail and beds was barely large enough to squeeze two little kids side-by-side, much less a Mizuki and a Date.

But, somehow, all of those little imperfections made it feel more like home.

"Not bad, if I do say so myself!" Date slapped his hands together, grinning to himself. He had a few blossoming bruises on his cheeks from where he had lost battles with the various bolts and screws of the bed.

And she saw this guy as her  _ hero… _

"Eh. I've seen better." Mizuki toed the tiny gap between their beds. "How am I meant to get out of bed, dummy? Climb across yours as well? Your _ smelly  _ bed?"

Date held his hands up. "Hey, I haven't even slept in it yet!"

"Still stinky!"

"But, yeah - it should be fine, right?" Date shrugged. "You're always sleeping before me and I wake up before you. One of the few perks of being an adult."

"Or maybe you should sleep more." Still, he had a point, and it wasn't like they had adequate space to make a gap.

...And, honestly, it was kind of comforting knowing that Date was only a few inches away from her.

Not that she'd ever  _ admit  _ that.

Although, maybe, she should. One of the things her therapist had gently encouraged her to do was to express her appreciation more often.

"...It could be worse," she murmured.

Date beamed.

"If I wake up in the middle of the night needing to piss, though, I'm gonna kick you out of my way."

Date released a large sigh. "Such  _ language…  _ where did you learn those terrible words from?"

Mizuki didn't say anything, but gave him an  _ 'are you fucking kidding me'  _ glare.

"Stop swearing at me, Mizuki!” He frowned. “You don't swear at school, do you?"

"Only when teachers aren't around."

He flashed her a thumbs up.

* * *

The first night with their joined beds was fine. Date was gone by the time she woke up  _ ("forgot some shit, have a good day", _ said the hurriedly-scribbled sticky note on the fridge), but there was something comforting about seeing the disheveled mess of sheets next to her. She gave the Adorabbit in her arms a final squeeze before letting go, and got ready for her day. Just before she left, she made up Date's bed, fluffing up the pillow and tucking Adorabbit underneath the quilt so it looked like he was sleeping.

So ugly… yet  _ so  _ cute...

The second night, she was stirred awake by whimpering. Truthfully, most of her sleep nowadays was gotten in snatches and bites. It was rarer than she  _ didn’t  _ wake up multiple times throughout the night. Tonight, though, she cracked open blurry eyes when she felt movement next to her.

Date must have been having a nightmare. From what little she could see from the moonlight peeking in, his face was sallow, tight with countless lines and slick with sweat. He was mumbling to himself, fingers grasping out for - something.

Something heavy dropped in Mizuki's stomach. Her chest was tight. She got onto her knees, sitting there in silence as she watched him continue to whine and mutter to himself.

Then, just as she was debating waking him up, he  _ screamed. _ It was a noise from her own nightmares, ones where Date had blood gushing out of his eye sockets and a handgun cocked at his head, and the  _ other  _ Date—

("Do you like fireworks?")

Mizuki shot forward. She leaned over him and shook his shoulders. "D-Date, wake up! Date!"

He didn't respond. She shook harder, so hard that she worried she might break his collarbone.

“Date!” she yelled. “Date - please!  _ Wake up!” _

His body slapped against the mattress with how intensely she was shaking it, but he wouldn’t get up. He  _ wouldn’t  _ wake up.

An irrational, bone-chilling, horrible terror seized her. Her mind flashed to places she knew she'd never been - at Date's bedside as he lay in a coma in hospital; home, muted and monochrome, a place both familiar and foreign; clutching Date against her in a world of darkness, wailing and sobbing and  _ begging— _

("I am not… what you need..."

"It has to be  _ you, _ Date!")

Mizuki yanked Adorabbit from beside her, and with a warrior's cry, slammed its fluffy body on Date's head.

"I  _ need  _ you, Date!" she yelled, words both old and new.

He shot up, chest heaving, covers tossed aside. Mizuki ducked away from the instinctive fist he threw out, cuddling Adorabbit to her chest as she watched him gather himself.

"Mizuki..?" came his scratchy voice into the stretching darkness. Mizuki nodded, remembered that he probably couldn't see her, and spoke.

"Who else could it be?" she winced at the harshness of her own words. Why couldn't she ever be  _ gentle?  _ "...You sounded like you were having a pretty crap nightmare."

"Yeah, no kiddin'." The quilt shuffled as Date sat up, rubbing his right eye. The left's empty socket yawned back at her. He'd taken out the fake eye before bed, saying something about how it wasn't the same.

Date let out a sigh so heavy that it could have rattled the core of Earth itself. He dragged a hand over his face, further messing up his hair.

"Sorry if I woke you up," he whispered. He sounded very close to crying. "But - it's fine. Go back to sleep."

Only a few weeks ago, perhaps Mizuki would have done just that. She'd have looked at him, then sighed and dragged herself to bed, awkward silence suffocating them as she tossed and turned.

But not now. Instead, Mizuki shuffled over, careful not to accidentally fall in the tiny gap between their beds, until she was next to him.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

She didn't need good lighting to know he'd raised an eyebrow high. "What are you, my therapist?"

"You wish!" Mizuki sighed. "Just - if something's bothering you, get it out." Her head dropped. "That's… what my own therapist tells me."

"That's…" Date trailed off thoughtfully. "...a damn good point. Maybe I should look into a therapist of my own."

"I'd recommend it," Mizuki murmured into Adorabbit's head. She squeezed him against her chest. "It's really,  _ really  _ scary, but… it definitely helps. The hardest part's… admitting that you  _ need  _ help."

Date's arm rested around her shoulders. Mizuki made no movement to push it off.

"I… dreamt of the abandoned factory again."

_ "Oh,"  _ Mizuki breathed.

His smile was tight, not at all joyous, as he continued. "But after I threw down my gun, Aiba didn't… I don't know." He shook his head. "I couldn't control myself. And then I - I was back in that body, but I was  _ him—"  _ He started to tremor— "and I raised the handgun, and I couldn't stop, and - and—”

He broke off, eye thickening with fat tears that soon dripped down his cheeks. Mizuki made a soft noise, pulling him back to face her when he turned his head away.

"I'm sorry—”

"Don't be sorry," she whispered.  _ "Please,  _ don't apologise." She rubbed her hand up and down his back, even though his back was gigantic and her hand was barely half the size of his own. Still, for what it was worth, he seemed to like it. Hiis sniffles died down.

An outsider peering in would have found them to be utterly bizarre. A twelve year old girl comforting a sobbing man who was at least forty years old, the two of them sharing a bond that couldn't be put into words. 'Siblings' felt wrong. 'Parent and child' was too distant. 'Cousins' didn't convey their closeness.

...Then again, hadn't they always been a bit strange? Mizuki could punch down trees. Date might as well have gotten a degree in body hopping - and could go into people's dreams. If no labels could accurately define them, why use labels at all? Why not simply call themselves 'Mizuki and Date'? Her name came first,  _ obviously. _ She was  _ definitely  _ the tougher out of the two of them.

As long as they could be together - be  _ family -  _ that was more than enough for her.

Eventually, Date drew away from her, but her hand still remained on his back. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand. "Sorry… I'm a grown adult, and here I am, crying all over you…"

"Oh, no, how dare you have  _ emotions."  _ Mizuki sighed. "Date, you… you got back, what, over thirty years of memories back a few weeks ago? That's almost  _ as three times  _ as long as I've lived. I…" She drew in a shuddering breath. "I can't even  _ imagine  _ what that'd be like. And you have to get used to a whole new body, and that's - that's not even  _ considering  _ everything that happened to us. To  _ you." _

"Man." Date rested his head against the wall, body limp like a marionette. Mizuki watched him from where she sat cross-legged. "I'd have a time explainin'  _ that  _ to a therapist, huh."

Mizuki shrugged with a small smile. "Just… explain the stuff you can. Even that's gotta help, right?"

“...Yeah.”

For a short while, there was a comfortable silence.

Then, suddenly, both of his arms wrapped around her and pulled her close to his body. Mizuki yelped, her arms scrambling for purpose before resting around his own back. Her fingers on one hand couldn't reach the other, not even when she stretched them as far out as possible. After several futile attempts, she let out a fond huff and just squeezed as hard as she could. Not so hard that she’d crush him, of course, but hard enough that he couldn’t doubt how much she loved him for a  _ single  _ second.

His entire body trembled.

"If you wanna hug me, that's all you had to say," Mizuki grumbled into his chest. "Idiot."

She felt his scoff. Date was warm, more so than he had been in - well. The other body. His arms felt sturdier as well, as if  _ she  _ was the only being comforted and not the other way around.

Mizuki’s eyes watered. She squeezed them shut. After a long, long time, Date patted her back. Mizuki leaned back, watching his face like a hawk, but he seemed… content.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah…” He smiled at her. It was a little lopsided, but still strangely endearing, in that way he always managed to be. “Thanks.”

“No need to thank me.” Mizuki wiped a finger under her nose. “But… you’re welcome.”

“Neither your current therapist nor my future therapist are gonna approve of this, but…” Date slowly sat up straight, his back giving a loud crack as he did so. Mizuki winced, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. “How about we watch some terrible movies? I  _ know  _ you love those.”

“Isn’t it pretty late?” Mizuki asked, and then wondered why  _ she  _ was being the adult in this conversation.

Date shrugged. "What time is it?"

With a fond sigh, Mizuki bent down, her fingers scrambling about on the floor until she hit hard plastic. She fished her phone up between the tiny gap and squinted at the screen.

“About one.”

“You don’t have anything to do tomorrow, do you?”

“Nope.” Mizuki popped the single syllable on her tongue.

“That’s  _ that  _ settled, then.” Date pushed himself off the bed, bare feet clicking as he ambled towards the kitchen. The fridge light blinded Mizuki when he opened it, forcing her to cover her eyes. “You put on the movie and I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”

The cooker dial squeaked when Date turned it on. Once the heat came on, he poured a good amount of milk into the pan, giving it a quick stir before swinging the milk carton back into the fridge. Mizuki watched him, her chest brimming with warmth, until he turned around.

“Is that all right? The, uh, hot chocolate?”

“Yeah.” Mizuki swallowed down the lump in her throat, the tears prickling her eyes. Her heart only grew softer.

_ Family… _

“Thanks, Date. For - for everything.”

Date smiled at her. At least she wasn’t the only one ready to burst into tears just from being too damn  _ happy.  _ “It’s the least I can do. I - I know I - wasn’t there for you, before. As much as I should have been.”

“It was fine,” Mizuki mumbled.

“It  _ wasn’t  _ fine,” Date said firmly. “I got so caught up in what was ahead that I - I forgot to treasure what was right beside me. I won’t do that again. I _ promise.” _

“W-well, good.” Mizuki tried to puff her chest out. “I-I mean, you’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not!”

Date gave a soft laugh. “Sounds pretty good to me.”

Whatever sappy stuff he was going to sprout next was cut off by the spitting of the boiling milk. Date yelped as a blob landed on his hand, scrambling to turn down the heat. He pulled out two cups and got out a tub of cocoa powder.

Smiling to herself, Mizuki hunched over her phone as she scrolled through MeTube for a terrible movie for them to watch illegally. When she found a decent one - one her and Iris had watched before, about birds with extremely poor CGI and sound effects taking over the world - she decided to make a little pillow fort for them.

It wasn’t much - only two quilts and two pillows, so it mostly ended up being them lying on top of one quilt and under another, using both pillows as headrests. Mizuki laid across the two beds, cautious of the tiny gap, making sure to leave enough space for Date to curl his legs up. He was  _ tall. _

When he turned around with streaming cups of cocoa, for a single second, Mizuki’s body tensed, ready for him to yell. That she was being stupid,  _ childish,  _ ruining  _ everything, get out of my life why did I ever  _ **_have_ ** _ you— _

“Great idea,” he said, and just like that, all of that dread was washed from her body. Mizuki grinned at him.

“Hurry up!” she called. She wiggled Adorabbit in her arms. “You’re keeping Adorabbit waiting!”

“Oh no, not our esteemed guest!” Date cried with a gasp. “We can’t keep him waiting a second longer! Should I have made him hot chocolate too?”

“Naaaah. He doesn’t like cocoa.”

The bed squeaked when Date sat down.

“So what does he like?”

“The souls of the innocent.”

Date raised an eyebrow.

“...Bagels.”

“Those are a  _ bit  _ easier to get.”

Mizuki put down Adorabbit to take both of the cups in her hands. She watched Date grunt and curse under his breath as he climbed into the beds, settling down next to her with a loud moan. She’d left a bit too much room for him to curl his legs. Once he was comfortable, Mizuki scooted over until there was only an inch or two between them.

She handed a cup to Date, who took it with a quiet thank you. Then, she folded the flip cover on her phone so that it would stand on the wonky mattress and laid it out in front of her.

“What’s this?” Date asked, voice sleepy as she hit the play button.

“Birds taking over the world,” came her breezy reply.

“Ah, I  _ really  _ should have guessed.” Date took a long sip of his drink, smiling such a gentle, tender smile that, had Mizuki not seen it before, would have had her demanding  _ who  _ was lying next to her. “...Mizuki?”

“...Yeah?”

“You know I love you, right?”

“Y-yeah.” Stupid Date, making her cry  _ again.  _ “I… I love you too, Date.”

“Don’t ever forget that.  _ Please.” _

“I won’t - you better not either!”

A fond chuckle. His gaze as he looked at her was so affectionate, so  _ familial,  _ that it made her want to duck behind her pillow.

Then, a bird squawked, and they both looked at the screen just in time to see a bird rip off someone’s head.

“Oh.” Date winced. “That’s—”

“It gets  _ so much worse!”  _ Mizuki cackled.

And that was how their night went. They chuckled and yelled and gawked at the terrible movie, side-by-side in home, sweet home. With the heat of the hot chocolate in her belly and love in her heart, the movie hadn’t even ended before Mizuki was asleep next to Date.

When she began to snore, Date smiled and turned off the movie. He locked her screen, took the empty cup from her limp grasp, and set both cup and phone on the floor. Then, he tugged the quilt around them both, his arm resting on her back, and soon found himself joining her in the land of rest.

Neither of them had nightmares. Both of them slept on until late morning.

And if Mizuki woke first, and saw Date asleep next to her, with the comforting weight of his arm on her, and cried a little?

Well.

Nobody was awake to see it.

When she pulled away with a sniffle, Date cracked his eye open, smiling, and wondered how to officially begin the process of adoption.

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter!!](https://twitter.com/greenpiggles) it's mainly about fe but feel free to check it out!
> 
> hope you enjoyed the fic!! kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated~


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